It is common for medicament supplied in tablet form to be packaged in a blister pack. Such a pack typically comprises an upper sheet of semi-rigid plastics material in which the blisters are formed, and a lower sheet of sealing foil which closes the blisters. In order to release a tablet from a blister, the pack has to be held with the underside of the blister spaced from any supporting surface and a collapsing force needs to be exerted on the blister. If such a force is sufficiently large, it will cause the portion of the foil sealing the blister to rupture, thus releasing the tablet.
Although an able bodied person can easily release the blister from the pack without further assistance, a person of reduced manual dexterity can have difficulty exerting a sufficient collapsing force on a blister while properly supporting the blister pack.
EP-A-0759403 shows a tablet dispenser having a tray holding for a blister pack and a lid in which a number of buttons, each connected to a respective plunger, are provided. In use, each plunger overlies a respective blister so that, when the associated button is pushed, a tablet is ejected from that blister by the plunger. Since the number of buttons has to correspond to the number of blisters in a pack, the buttons are small and therefore difficult to use.
EP0547426A shows a tray like container having a lid which is provided with a single plunger slideable along a race so that it can move into engagement with any selected one of the blisters in a pack held in the tray. However, the top of the plunger is still relatively small and therefore difficult to operate.